Written by Podunker:rrquinta
Suikoden Tierkreis (ST) is a turn-based RPG. True to the series roots, you have a large cast of characters to recruit to your army, and you set up base in an abandoned castle. The story is a unique, creative, and engrossing one, that will have you anxious to find out what happens next in much the same way that a good mystery novel will.
Platform: Nintendo DS
Genre: RPG
ESRB Rating: E 10+
Release Date: March 17, 2009
Publisher / Developer: Konami
Overall Rating: 7/10
Overall Recommendation: Amazing story with tedious gameplay and great production values make this a must-play for those who enjoy a good tale but have the patience to muddle through boring battles.
Story: 9/10
I have to say the story is definitely the high point of the game. It was probably the first game I've played that I could honestly compare to a "page-turner" book in the sense that I kept playing because I was so engrossed and really wanted to find out what happened next.
While the story has its share of RPG cliches, and many of the 108 characters aren't fully fleshed out, the core story is something truly unique and creative. In fact, in telling non-gaming friends and family about the tale, I had many of them say they wish it were a book so they could read it and experience it themselves. Considering the fact that story (even in many RPGs, sadly) often takes a back seat to graphics or other elements, this is a high compliment, at least in my opinion.
I don't want to give away too much, as obviously a large part of the joy in playing Suikoden Tierkreis is in experiencing the story as it unfolds, but I will do my best to give you the basics so that perhaps you can understand what makes it so engaging in the first place.
Basically, you discover early on that many worlds exist other than your own, and these worlds are collectively referred to as "The Infinity." Some people can use gateways (special portals) to travel to a corridor, from which you can enter the gateways that will take you to different worlds. Not long after starting the game, you and your companions encounter a mysterious book called a Chronicle that gifts most of you with special powers called The Marks of the Stars. Eventually, you begin to use these powers to fight against a cult-like group called The Order of the One True Way, who believes the future is predestined and seeks to bring everyone under their control, whether by choice or by force. It isn't long before you discover that the leader of this group, Valfred, has even more sinister and dangerous plans in mind, ones that threaten not only the safety of your own world, but the entire Infinity. You must gather as many of the 108 Stars of Destiny (those chosen to receive the marks of the stars) in order to fight Valfred and the dangerous one he serves, The One True King.
I know that sounds a little crazy, since I'm doing my best to be relatively vague so as not to ruin anything. But it's a very engaging story about destiny, fate, and human will. My only real complaint (and the reason I couldn't give it a 10/10), is the ending. It is rather unfulfilling, in my opinion, even if you get the "good" ending, and really doesn't do the epic story justice. Despite this, the rest of the story is definitely worth experiencing, and certainly what made me enjoy ST as much as I did.
Gameplay: 5/10
I only wish I could speak as lovingly about the gameplay as I did the story. Sadly, gameplay was definitely the weakest part of ST, in my opinion. Overall, challenge is low, and strategy is sparse. Although you have a long list of characters (108), you are often limited in who you can use, and will often find yourself re-using key characters and ignoring many others. Battles are not as addictive as in other games of this type (i.e., Dragon Quest), and often times you will find yourself using the "auto" button just to get through them. Also, the frequency of random battles is all over the place. Some places you can go seemingly forever without encountering a battle, whereas others you can find one every two steps. Because battles are very redundant (often fighting the exact same group of enemies back-to-back-to-back), this can get frustrating and old very quickly.
Another thing I found particularly irksome is there is no "quick escape" from dungeons (i.e., a spell). Since you aren't always automatically transferred out of the dungeon after defeating the boss, it means you must find your way back out again, something that isn't always easy, due to the lack of a map feature. I know there was one dungeon in particular that was very convoluted and also had an outrageously high encounter rate, so that I almost stopped playing entirely. In my opinion, once you complete the dungeon, you shouldn't have to fight your way back out again, unless you choose to. The thing that was particularly odd about this was that the game would sometimes leave you in the dungeon, and sometimes it wouldn't, depending on which dungeon it was. The fact that you were sometimes relieved of having to back track in some ways made the times you did have to find your way out again all the more frustrating because you knew how unnecessary it was.
Related to this, I also found the overall navigation/travel system a bit odd. In some ways the developers simplified travel by using an overworld map and a Luminous Arc -type navigation (click on a city to go there, then when you are there, click one of the available locations to go to that part of the city), yet other times you are forced to wander over long distances (especially in your home base, for example). Also, for a game whose story relies so heavily on the concept of gateways, they are disappointingly underused for quick travel (you can't use most yourself, only if done automatically via the story). In fact, oddly enough, although you do end up being able to use at least one gateway for quick travel later in the game, you can't use it to go back to your headquarters.
View article images here
Another disappointing aspect of the gameplay is its relative linearity. You will often find that you are dragged from one event to the other without any opportunity to do something else in between. The fact that certain quests (and certain characters) can only be completed or recruited at certain times makes all the more frustrating, as it can sometimes be difficult to tell when an event will be linked to another, and another without giving you free reign, and when you will have the opportunity to do side quests and such.
Another flaw in the game design is the fact that that Marks of the Stars aren't automatically assigned for new characters, and new marks (for recruited characters) aren't either. It took me a while to realize this. Assigning marks can get tedious, especially since you don't get an indication when a character has gained new ones, and the fact that you have so many characters to work with. In fact, it would have been nice if you could have sorted your characters, as it makes not only assigning marks a pain, but also putting your party together. You have to scroll through up to 108 names in order to find who you want. It would have been nice to be able to sort by alphabet, or level, or something. Expect to spend a lot of time scrolling.
I also found the quest system disappointing. For most quests, you just assemble a party and send them out, and then, after the time period, they will report back either successful or not, and you will get your reward (if they were successful). Some quests require your main character, so you will participate actively in those, but otherwise they are mostly to gain money. Personally, I found this sort of hollow, since even some of the recruitment quests occur in the background. An odd design choice that some may like, but that I personally did not. I want to go out and do the quests myself, thank you. Another problem with the quest system is that choosing who to send in the party for a certain quest is usually pure guesswork (i.e., need characters with certain stats to be successful, but you have on way of knowing what those are). I found myself using a walkthrough for many of the quests because of this.
Another element that wasn't a deal-breaker by any means, but that was disappointing in its untapped potential is the trading system. Basically, when you battle, your opponents will drop items, often trade goods. You can then sell these in various cities to make a nice profit. Some cities will pay more for certain items. Potentially, you can also purchase trade goods to then sell where they are in high demand and command a high price. Overall, the system is an interesting concept, but since money is relatively easy to obtain, you will probably find yourself using it simply to sell off items collected from battles.
In addition to these innate design flaws, the game also suffers from some bugs and typos. While not game-breaking by any means, they can be annoying. The one bug I found consistent through the game was that the command menu would disappear during battle temporarily. It didn't really affect the game, but it was noticeable. The game also had some typos in speech ("I've have got it.") And, esp later in the game, it can be disorienting when the printed text and the voiced speech don't coincide. However, the biggest "bug" I found were the camera angles during battles. I'm not sure if this was intentional or not, but during battle, the camera will often swoosh around cinematically. This effect looks really great and helps create a console experience on a small screen, but perhaps because of the small screen, this process usually cuts off your opponent so you can't tell how much damage you've done. This happened a lot and I found it very annoying.
Another flaw that annoyed me, but probably couldn't be considered a bug, is the fact that you must recruit a few of the characters at a certain time or they cannot be recruited at all. What makes it worse is that without one of these characters, there is a chain of several other characters that thus also become unrecruitable, meaning you would have to play through the game again to get all 108 stars. As great as the story is, the gameplay is too poor in my opinion, and the "good" ending is too weak to merit this. I'm not sure why the developers decided to do this with a few characters, rather than making it so that all characters had a limited time-frame for recruitment. Overall, it seems as if the message of the gameplay was consistent inconsistency.
However, I suppose I should mention that not all things about the gameplay were bad, as the 5/10 score suggests mediocrity and not abysmal failure. Akin to Chrono Trigger, certain characters can perform group attacks, which can be very powerful. These can really come in handy to defeat enemies quickly and make the battles go by more quickly. Unfortunately, learning which combinations of characters can perform these attacks is left to trial and error, and the fact that the game often limits who you can assign to a party means you won't have as much access to these as you would like.
Another element some may like about the game (and others may not) is you really don't have any level grinding. Not only do you not need it for the most part, but you really can't do it even if you want to. Other than taking out some under-used characters to increase their levels a little, you really can't level grind at all, as experience is dolled out very conservatively, especially once your characters reach the higher levels. I don't know for sure, but I don't even think it's possible to get a character with a level higher than 64 or something like that, unless you played for dozens of (extra) hours more.
Graphics & Sound: 9/10
I think I can say with confidence that this game has the best graphics I've seen so far on the DS. The backgrounds and scenery are beautiful, and the locations are varied with their own unique style. I was also surprised that many of the scenes include particle effects, and other animated elements, such as falling leaves, that make the scenery even more engrossing. I was also surprised by the incredible variation in locations; each city and place truly are their own unique worlds, without the usual recycling usually seen, especially in a handheld RPG. My only complaint was the sprites seemed poor in comparison to the other graphics. Although the designers did attempt to make each sprite look unique, I often couldn't tell many apart from each other. However, this is a minor qualm, as overall, ST is a great looking game.
One thing that really impressed me, in addition to the locations, were the character and monster designs. The larger boss-like creatures you fight were particularly creative and very impressive. All 108 characters have their own unique style and clothing, something that really comes through in the anime-like dialogue sequences.
Overall, the sound in this game was great. Sound effects are amazing, especially for a DS game. Whether it's the clang of swords or the growls of monsters, you will be completely engrossed. I was very impressed how you will hear echo effects of voices in large spaces, and the fact that the game actually turns off the music when people are talking so you can hear them. In general, voice acting is amazingly well done, and about 50-75% of the dialogue is fully voiced, something truly amazing for a DS game.
Challenge: 5/10
ST's challenge is very low, especially for an experienced RPG gamer. Most likely this was intentional in order to allow newcomers to enjoy the experience (it does have an "E" rating). Although I don't mind a harder game, in this case it didn't bother me much because the story was so engrossing and it made it easier to get to the next segment in the saga. However, mystifyingly, the final boss (which you fight in three separate stages) is suddenly outrageously hard in comparison to the rest of the game. In fact, it was the first time I had seen a game over screen in the 60+ hours previous to it. It wasn't even until the final stage of the final boss that the difficulty suddenly ramped up, as he can suddenly kill your entire party in one hit. In context, this was very, very frustrating, especially since you have to trek through part of the dungeon again to get to him each time (and you can only fast forward through the cutscenes, not skip them, and not all at once, which makes the experience all the more tedious).
After almost giving up on the game, I reluctantly changed my party, and was able to defeat him fairly easily. However, it was very disappointing that I couldn't defeat him with the party I wanted (all members of both sets of parties were at comparable levels). Thus, if you're looking for a challenge, this is not the game for you.
Overall Rating: 7/10
For a game about possibilities, Suikoden Tierkreis really is a game of "could haves" in a lot of ways. With its amazing production values and excellent story, it could easily have earned the highest of marks and become a "must play" for nearly any gamer. Sadly, major gameplay flaws and a disappointing ending/resolution for such an epic story force me to drop the overall rating a few points.
I've already ranted about all the flaws in the gameplay, but my primary complaint comes to the fact that it is boring. Yes, you have 60+ hours of it, but if it weren't for the story, I know most people (including myself) probably wouldn't have bothered after the first few hours, and this is a real shame. Perhaps if battles posed more of a challenge, offered more variety, or simply included more strategy, it would mean more gamers would stay away from the (thankfully) included "auto" button, which basically is a way to get through the tedious battles as quickly as possible in order to get on to the more interesting story twist coming after it.
The story itself is strong enough for the most part that I was leaning toward a higher score despite the gameplay flaws, except for the fact that the ending was rather abrupt and unsatisfying. At first, I thought this was due to the fact that I had received the "bad" ending (the one you get if you beat the game without recruiting all 108 characters). However, a bit of research lead me to discover that the "good" ending simply adds a cutscene that doesn't leave you any more satisfied than if you had missed it. In fact, it turns out the early "bad" ending you can get if you make a wrong dialogue choice earlier in the game is actually more interesting and enlightening in many ways than the true endings are.
For a game that has such a strong story, I was a little let down by the ending, especially with how difficult the third part of the last boss was. I almost felt like I wouldn't have missed anything if I had just given up without beating him, and this is a great tragedy, and the main reason I dropped the overall score down a notch, and dropped the story score down as well.
Another disappointment is ST has no Game +, so if you decide to replay, it will be as if you were playing for the first time, as far as the game is concerned. This really leaves the game with little (if any) replayability, as you will not get any new story archs or anything else new, for that matter, other than the satisfaction of knowing you recruited everyone and watched that extra (meaningless) cutscene.
Final Recommendation
If you are a person who plays games for the story, then ST is definitely worth picking up, as I found it very engrossing, and despite the disappointing ending, I don't regret the experience.
You will get at least 60 hours of gameplay, although much of it can be tedious, so you may decide that renting or purchasing used may be the best option, especially since replay value is low.
One thing I didn't mention in my review is the online option: you can complete quests by going online, but I didn't really utilize this function, so I didn't include it in my rating or commentary. However, you could potentially greatly lengthen your value and play time by utilizing this feature.
Overall, ST could have been an amazing game, and perhaps we will see future iterations of the series that will take the good done in this game and improve upon the failings. If so, we could have one of the best handheld RPGs ever made.
Suikoden Tierkreis (ST) is a turn-based RPG. True to the series roots, you have a large cast of characters to recruit to your army, and you set up base in an abandoned castle. The story is a unique, creative, and engrossing one, that will have you anxious to find out what happens next in much the same way that a good mystery novel will.
Platform: Nintendo DS
Genre: RPG
ESRB Rating: E 10+
Release Date: March 17, 2009
Publisher / Developer: Konami
Overall Rating: 7/10
Overall Recommendation: Amazing story with tedious gameplay and great production values make this a must-play for those who enjoy a good tale but have the patience to muddle through boring battles.
Story: 9/10
I have to say the story is definitely the high point of the game. It was probably the first game I've played that I could honestly compare to a "page-turner" book in the sense that I kept playing because I was so engrossed and really wanted to find out what happened next.
While the story has its share of RPG cliches, and many of the 108 characters aren't fully fleshed out, the core story is something truly unique and creative. In fact, in telling non-gaming friends and family about the tale, I had many of them say they wish it were a book so they could read it and experience it themselves. Considering the fact that story (even in many RPGs, sadly) often takes a back seat to graphics or other elements, this is a high compliment, at least in my opinion.
I don't want to give away too much, as obviously a large part of the joy in playing Suikoden Tierkreis is in experiencing the story as it unfolds, but I will do my best to give you the basics so that perhaps you can understand what makes it so engaging in the first place.
Basically, you discover early on that many worlds exist other than your own, and these worlds are collectively referred to as "The Infinity." Some people can use gateways (special portals) to travel to a corridor, from which you can enter the gateways that will take you to different worlds. Not long after starting the game, you and your companions encounter a mysterious book called a Chronicle that gifts most of you with special powers called The Marks of the Stars. Eventually, you begin to use these powers to fight against a cult-like group called The Order of the One True Way, who believes the future is predestined and seeks to bring everyone under their control, whether by choice or by force. It isn't long before you discover that the leader of this group, Valfred, has even more sinister and dangerous plans in mind, ones that threaten not only the safety of your own world, but the entire Infinity. You must gather as many of the 108 Stars of Destiny (those chosen to receive the marks of the stars) in order to fight Valfred and the dangerous one he serves, The One True King.
I know that sounds a little crazy, since I'm doing my best to be relatively vague so as not to ruin anything. But it's a very engaging story about destiny, fate, and human will. My only real complaint (and the reason I couldn't give it a 10/10), is the ending. It is rather unfulfilling, in my opinion, even if you get the "good" ending, and really doesn't do the epic story justice. Despite this, the rest of the story is definitely worth experiencing, and certainly what made me enjoy ST as much as I did.
Gameplay: 5/10
I only wish I could speak as lovingly about the gameplay as I did the story. Sadly, gameplay was definitely the weakest part of ST, in my opinion. Overall, challenge is low, and strategy is sparse. Although you have a long list of characters (108), you are often limited in who you can use, and will often find yourself re-using key characters and ignoring many others. Battles are not as addictive as in other games of this type (i.e., Dragon Quest), and often times you will find yourself using the "auto" button just to get through them. Also, the frequency of random battles is all over the place. Some places you can go seemingly forever without encountering a battle, whereas others you can find one every two steps. Because battles are very redundant (often fighting the exact same group of enemies back-to-back-to-back), this can get frustrating and old very quickly.
Another thing I found particularly irksome is there is no "quick escape" from dungeons (i.e., a spell). Since you aren't always automatically transferred out of the dungeon after defeating the boss, it means you must find your way back out again, something that isn't always easy, due to the lack of a map feature. I know there was one dungeon in particular that was very convoluted and also had an outrageously high encounter rate, so that I almost stopped playing entirely. In my opinion, once you complete the dungeon, you shouldn't have to fight your way back out again, unless you choose to. The thing that was particularly odd about this was that the game would sometimes leave you in the dungeon, and sometimes it wouldn't, depending on which dungeon it was. The fact that you were sometimes relieved of having to back track in some ways made the times you did have to find your way out again all the more frustrating because you knew how unnecessary it was.
Related to this, I also found the overall navigation/travel system a bit odd. In some ways the developers simplified travel by using an overworld map and a Luminous Arc -type navigation (click on a city to go there, then when you are there, click one of the available locations to go to that part of the city), yet other times you are forced to wander over long distances (especially in your home base, for example). Also, for a game whose story relies so heavily on the concept of gateways, they are disappointingly underused for quick travel (you can't use most yourself, only if done automatically via the story). In fact, oddly enough, although you do end up being able to use at least one gateway for quick travel later in the game, you can't use it to go back to your headquarters.
View article images here
Another disappointing aspect of the gameplay is its relative linearity. You will often find that you are dragged from one event to the other without any opportunity to do something else in between. The fact that certain quests (and certain characters) can only be completed or recruited at certain times makes all the more frustrating, as it can sometimes be difficult to tell when an event will be linked to another, and another without giving you free reign, and when you will have the opportunity to do side quests and such.
Another flaw in the game design is the fact that that Marks of the Stars aren't automatically assigned for new characters, and new marks (for recruited characters) aren't either. It took me a while to realize this. Assigning marks can get tedious, especially since you don't get an indication when a character has gained new ones, and the fact that you have so many characters to work with. In fact, it would have been nice if you could have sorted your characters, as it makes not only assigning marks a pain, but also putting your party together. You have to scroll through up to 108 names in order to find who you want. It would have been nice to be able to sort by alphabet, or level, or something. Expect to spend a lot of time scrolling.
I also found the quest system disappointing. For most quests, you just assemble a party and send them out, and then, after the time period, they will report back either successful or not, and you will get your reward (if they were successful). Some quests require your main character, so you will participate actively in those, but otherwise they are mostly to gain money. Personally, I found this sort of hollow, since even some of the recruitment quests occur in the background. An odd design choice that some may like, but that I personally did not. I want to go out and do the quests myself, thank you. Another problem with the quest system is that choosing who to send in the party for a certain quest is usually pure guesswork (i.e., need characters with certain stats to be successful, but you have on way of knowing what those are). I found myself using a walkthrough for many of the quests because of this.
Another element that wasn't a deal-breaker by any means, but that was disappointing in its untapped potential is the trading system. Basically, when you battle, your opponents will drop items, often trade goods. You can then sell these in various cities to make a nice profit. Some cities will pay more for certain items. Potentially, you can also purchase trade goods to then sell where they are in high demand and command a high price. Overall, the system is an interesting concept, but since money is relatively easy to obtain, you will probably find yourself using it simply to sell off items collected from battles.
In addition to these innate design flaws, the game also suffers from some bugs and typos. While not game-breaking by any means, they can be annoying. The one bug I found consistent through the game was that the command menu would disappear during battle temporarily. It didn't really affect the game, but it was noticeable. The game also had some typos in speech ("I've have got it.") And, esp later in the game, it can be disorienting when the printed text and the voiced speech don't coincide. However, the biggest "bug" I found were the camera angles during battles. I'm not sure if this was intentional or not, but during battle, the camera will often swoosh around cinematically. This effect looks really great and helps create a console experience on a small screen, but perhaps because of the small screen, this process usually cuts off your opponent so you can't tell how much damage you've done. This happened a lot and I found it very annoying.
Another flaw that annoyed me, but probably couldn't be considered a bug, is the fact that you must recruit a few of the characters at a certain time or they cannot be recruited at all. What makes it worse is that without one of these characters, there is a chain of several other characters that thus also become unrecruitable, meaning you would have to play through the game again to get all 108 stars. As great as the story is, the gameplay is too poor in my opinion, and the "good" ending is too weak to merit this. I'm not sure why the developers decided to do this with a few characters, rather than making it so that all characters had a limited time-frame for recruitment. Overall, it seems as if the message of the gameplay was consistent inconsistency.
However, I suppose I should mention that not all things about the gameplay were bad, as the 5/10 score suggests mediocrity and not abysmal failure. Akin to Chrono Trigger, certain characters can perform group attacks, which can be very powerful. These can really come in handy to defeat enemies quickly and make the battles go by more quickly. Unfortunately, learning which combinations of characters can perform these attacks is left to trial and error, and the fact that the game often limits who you can assign to a party means you won't have as much access to these as you would like.
Another element some may like about the game (and others may not) is you really don't have any level grinding. Not only do you not need it for the most part, but you really can't do it even if you want to. Other than taking out some under-used characters to increase their levels a little, you really can't level grind at all, as experience is dolled out very conservatively, especially once your characters reach the higher levels. I don't know for sure, but I don't even think it's possible to get a character with a level higher than 64 or something like that, unless you played for dozens of (extra) hours more.
Graphics & Sound: 9/10
I think I can say with confidence that this game has the best graphics I've seen so far on the DS. The backgrounds and scenery are beautiful, and the locations are varied with their own unique style. I was also surprised that many of the scenes include particle effects, and other animated elements, such as falling leaves, that make the scenery even more engrossing. I was also surprised by the incredible variation in locations; each city and place truly are their own unique worlds, without the usual recycling usually seen, especially in a handheld RPG. My only complaint was the sprites seemed poor in comparison to the other graphics. Although the designers did attempt to make each sprite look unique, I often couldn't tell many apart from each other. However, this is a minor qualm, as overall, ST is a great looking game.
One thing that really impressed me, in addition to the locations, were the character and monster designs. The larger boss-like creatures you fight were particularly creative and very impressive. All 108 characters have their own unique style and clothing, something that really comes through in the anime-like dialogue sequences.
Overall, the sound in this game was great. Sound effects are amazing, especially for a DS game. Whether it's the clang of swords or the growls of monsters, you will be completely engrossed. I was very impressed how you will hear echo effects of voices in large spaces, and the fact that the game actually turns off the music when people are talking so you can hear them. In general, voice acting is amazingly well done, and about 50-75% of the dialogue is fully voiced, something truly amazing for a DS game.
Challenge: 5/10
ST's challenge is very low, especially for an experienced RPG gamer. Most likely this was intentional in order to allow newcomers to enjoy the experience (it does have an "E" rating). Although I don't mind a harder game, in this case it didn't bother me much because the story was so engrossing and it made it easier to get to the next segment in the saga. However, mystifyingly, the final boss (which you fight in three separate stages) is suddenly outrageously hard in comparison to the rest of the game. In fact, it was the first time I had seen a game over screen in the 60+ hours previous to it. It wasn't even until the final stage of the final boss that the difficulty suddenly ramped up, as he can suddenly kill your entire party in one hit. In context, this was very, very frustrating, especially since you have to trek through part of the dungeon again to get to him each time (and you can only fast forward through the cutscenes, not skip them, and not all at once, which makes the experience all the more tedious).
After almost giving up on the game, I reluctantly changed my party, and was able to defeat him fairly easily. However, it was very disappointing that I couldn't defeat him with the party I wanted (all members of both sets of parties were at comparable levels). Thus, if you're looking for a challenge, this is not the game for you.
Overall Rating: 7/10
For a game about possibilities, Suikoden Tierkreis really is a game of "could haves" in a lot of ways. With its amazing production values and excellent story, it could easily have earned the highest of marks and become a "must play" for nearly any gamer. Sadly, major gameplay flaws and a disappointing ending/resolution for such an epic story force me to drop the overall rating a few points.
I've already ranted about all the flaws in the gameplay, but my primary complaint comes to the fact that it is boring. Yes, you have 60+ hours of it, but if it weren't for the story, I know most people (including myself) probably wouldn't have bothered after the first few hours, and this is a real shame. Perhaps if battles posed more of a challenge, offered more variety, or simply included more strategy, it would mean more gamers would stay away from the (thankfully) included "auto" button, which basically is a way to get through the tedious battles as quickly as possible in order to get on to the more interesting story twist coming after it.
The story itself is strong enough for the most part that I was leaning toward a higher score despite the gameplay flaws, except for the fact that the ending was rather abrupt and unsatisfying. At first, I thought this was due to the fact that I had received the "bad" ending (the one you get if you beat the game without recruiting all 108 characters). However, a bit of research lead me to discover that the "good" ending simply adds a cutscene that doesn't leave you any more satisfied than if you had missed it. In fact, it turns out the early "bad" ending you can get if you make a wrong dialogue choice earlier in the game is actually more interesting and enlightening in many ways than the true endings are.
For a game that has such a strong story, I was a little let down by the ending, especially with how difficult the third part of the last boss was. I almost felt like I wouldn't have missed anything if I had just given up without beating him, and this is a great tragedy, and the main reason I dropped the overall score down a notch, and dropped the story score down as well.
Another disappointment is ST has no Game +, so if you decide to replay, it will be as if you were playing for the first time, as far as the game is concerned. This really leaves the game with little (if any) replayability, as you will not get any new story archs or anything else new, for that matter, other than the satisfaction of knowing you recruited everyone and watched that extra (meaningless) cutscene.
Final Recommendation
If you are a person who plays games for the story, then ST is definitely worth picking up, as I found it very engrossing, and despite the disappointing ending, I don't regret the experience.
You will get at least 60 hours of gameplay, although much of it can be tedious, so you may decide that renting or purchasing used may be the best option, especially since replay value is low.
One thing I didn't mention in my review is the online option: you can complete quests by going online, but I didn't really utilize this function, so I didn't include it in my rating or commentary. However, you could potentially greatly lengthen your value and play time by utilizing this feature.
Overall, ST could have been an amazing game, and perhaps we will see future iterations of the series that will take the good done in this game and improve upon the failings. If so, we could have one of the best handheld RPGs ever made.
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